


Never Give Up on You

by wanderstar



Category: Ghost - Mystery Skulls (Music Video), Mystery Skulls (Band)
Genre: Dreams, F/M, Gen, and lots of supernatural weirdness, some horror and body horror elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-11
Updated: 2016-04-15
Packaged: 2018-02-24 23:28:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2600303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wanderstar/pseuds/wanderstar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Lewis with the memory issues instead of Vivi, but the road to saving him is going to be a bumpy one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Vivi? Earth to Vivi?”

The girl gave a start at the metal hand waving in front of her face. “Huh? What?”

Aurthur sighed, pulling his arm back and resting it by his bowl of cereal. “You zoned out again.”

“Oh.” Awkward silence extended as Vivi took a few bites of her breakfast, light peeking in through the window and Mystery snoring gently beneath the table. Eventually Arthur cleared his throat.

“You sleeping okay?”

“I...” 

“Vivi?” 

“I’m okay.” She swallowed. “Just some dream weirdness, that’s all.”

“Dream-?”

“I’m fine Arthur.” Even without looking Vivi could tell her friend was staring at her, wanting to ask more. But just like the rest of the week, he wouldn’t – and sure enough, the sound of crunching cereal started up a few moments later.

Part of her wanted to talk to him about it, but she couldn’t – not when the dreams involved Lewis. Arthur already had enough to deal with without dragging himself through the dirt. Usually she wouldn’t pussyfoot around the issue, but since the mansion last Sunday, well... none of them were ready to handle any extra stress. 

Either way, the dreams never seemed to stick around past morning. All she ever got were bits and pieces of his face. Snippets of them together. 

It was frustrating, to say the least.

Reaching below the table Vivi gave Mystery a scratch on the neck, collar jingling and the dog yawning awake. She patted him on the back. “Go bug Arthur,” she whispered. And sure enough –

“Hey, that’s my breakfast dog brains!” Vivi covered a laugh as Arthur hoisted his cereal above his head, Mystery sitting almost patiently in his lap. Arthur shot her a look. “Did you really need to do that?”

“Hey, ‘dog brains’ needs breakfast too.”

Arthur squinted, realizing she’d just dumped dog food duty on him, before finally sighing. “Okay, fine. Come on fuzz butt, chow time.” Shooing Mystery off his lap he got up and walked over to the cabinet, the dog bouncing along behind him.

Vivi knew she’d be getting grief for that switch later on, but seeing Arthur smile as he petted Mystery, getting in a laugh herself... it was more than worth it. After all, in a week like this they needed all the bright spots they could get. 

***

The moment she arrived Vivi could tell this dream was different. Before the setting had always been a memory, soft around the edges and never quite distinct enough to stay. This time however... this was almost sharp enough to hurt.

The wallpaper was peeling horribly, old furniture covered in dust and the candles only illuminating the room part way. Candles – Vivi sucked in a breath. The flames were purple. Just like the mansion. Yet she’d never been to a room like this, so why...? Slowly, she began to realize something else. The mansion, while classic and most definitely haunted, had never felt like it was in disrepair. This room was falling to pieces. Under the peeling wallpaper she saw the walls starting to crumble, and, inexplicably, the color had been leeched away around each crack. Adding in the fact that there were no windows the place almost felt like a tomb. Vivi shivered. In a way, maybe it was.

It took several seconds for Vivi to notice she wasn’t alone. At first she’d mistaken the light for another candle in the dimness but as she’d looked closer the shape was wrong, too high up, too big – and then it turned, two circles of pink appearing beneath the flame. The ghost. The ghost was here.

Yet like the room, he was different. The once bright flames of before had dimmed, leaving him barely visible, and the heart, that bright, strange, golden beating heart, was gone. There was only a shadow where it’d been before.

Vivi’s thoughts churned as the two of them stared at each other, silence stretching out in the woeful space. Why would she be having this dream after all the others? Why did it feel so different? Part of her knew there was a connection but the reason hovered at the back of her mind, unable to make itself known. The ghost was the one who broke the silence first.

“Why...” he stopped for a moment, almost seeming confused at his own quiet voice. “Why are you here?” Vivi could tell that just that small sentence had taken him a great deal of effort. Whatever had happened to the ghost since she’d seen him last, he was losing himself. Her heart clenched painfully in her chest. 

Why did that realization hurt her? 

Swallowing, she walked a little closer to the ghost. “What happened to you?” The flames on his head burned silently as she watched him struggle to find an answer, gloved hands tentatively feeling his face (skull?) before finally settling on his chest. “I lost my... my...”

“Heart?”

“... myself.”

The situation dawned on Vivi. One theory she’d heard about ghosts was they were held behind by unfinished business, a specific reason that kept them going. The ghost... somehow he’d lost his purpose, and as a result had started to lose his identity. Before she could ask more however the ghost’s eyes flared bright, boring into her as he repeated his question.

“Why are you here?”

The voice was clearer this time, otherworldly and yet

Familiar?

More pieces in her mind clicked into place, emotions bubbling up from her heart and into her throat. Sometimes, she realized, a person could refuse to see the obvious. Everything would line up, all the clues would point to the right place, and yet still the answer could elude them because of what it would entail – that the truth could be more painful than not knowing. Eventually though, even the most stubborn mind would have to give in.

“I’m here-” she had to pause, voice cracking - “I’m here for you.”

Closing the distance between them Vivi grabbed his hand and held it tight, hoping, willing him to remember. The cases, lazy days with all four of them lying around the house and Mystery’s dog breath in Arthur’s face, bickering over dinner, starry skies in the middle of nowhere, the long hours on the road, the... the cave... 

She couldn’t stop the thoughts of that horrible night but she pushed through it, even as she started to cry. She’d seen it all, all that blood and pain. Sometimes it was too much. But right now she wouldn’t give up.

When Vivi grabbed his hand there was a strange sort of spark, the ghost going rigid and staring down at her in shock. From the point of contact a golden light crackled into being, and each second she held on the light began travel up his arm, changing the ghost behind it. The gloves disappeared, revealing warm and strong hands. The black sleeve of the suit became white, and when the light reached the shoulder it sped up, racing across the chest to show a purple vest. Down the legs to the shoes, down the other arm, the light brought color back to the ghost until finally it traveled up the neck and over the head. The skull and flames were gone – only a kind face and soft purple hair remained. 

At first his expression was confused, almost amazed, but it soon turned to panic as he saw the girl crying in front of him.

“V-Vivi?! Are you okay?” He placed his hands on her shoulders, crouching down. “What happened, are you hurt, d-did I do something wrong?”

Hearing his question Vivi cracked a smile, tears continuing down her face. Without a doubt, it was him. 

“Lewis you doofus,” she said, and with that she threw her arms around him, hugging as tight as she could.

As his arms wrapped around her in turn Vivi buried her face in his shoulder, heartbeat slowly calming. For a moment she could almost pretend that they were back at home. No death, no pain, just a little bit of happiness. But as nice as the thought was... they weren’t. Vivi sighed.

“Too bad I’m only dreaming,” she murmured.

“I’m not sure that’s true.”

Being pulled out of the hug Vivi found Lewis gazing at her thoughtfully, hands resting on her arms. “Or...” he said, pausing to think. “That’s not all of it.” At this point the room was no longer in its sorriest state, color returning to the walls and a golden glow centered on where the two of them were standing. “You remember the mansion, right?” Vivi nodded, swallowing hard. Lewis dropped his arms and began to pace, rubbing the back of his neck. “After you left I... thought I’d disappear – for good.” For a moment the skull flickered back through his face and Vivi’s heart lurched. “But I didn’t.” He looked back at her. “Even after giving up I couldn’t let go. But I still lost the locket-”

“That’s what the heart was?”

Lewis nodded. “Without it I’m starting to forget. I think this-” He gestured at the room, himself- “Is a goodbye. A last hurrah of sorts,” he said quietly.

It did make sense, in a way, and yet... No. No it didn’t. The dreams she’d had earlier this week, they were like radio static – his memories bleeding off into the void, and somehow, she’d followed them. He hadn’t even remembered himself, let alone her. She was the one who’d found her way here. And she was the one who was going to figure things out.

“You,” Vivi grumbled, stalking over and yanking down a surprised Lewis by the scarf, “are an idiot.”

“Wha-?!”

“Shhh.” For emphasis, she planted a quick kiss on his lips. At the very least it’d keep him quiet for a moment. “Now,” she said, noticing both of them were blushing at this point, “do you want to pass on?” Vivi was becoming more confident on what she needed to do, but she didn’t want to force Lewis into something against his will.

A somewhat flustered Lewis straightened back up, fixing his scarf. “N-not particularly, no, but I don’t think I have a choice?”

“You do,” Vivi said, looking him in the eye. “And I’m going to help make it happen.”

“But... how?”

“I’m going to find the locket.” 

Lewis stopped, becoming thoughtful. “It... might work.” It didn’t take long for him to turn frustrated again, however. “I can’t even remember where last had it.”

“Well... I found you, so why not the locket? Mystery and Arthur would probably be willing to help too-”

At the mention of Arthur’s name the flames and skull began to bleed back into Lewis’ appearance, the ghost hovering a few inches above the floor. “Arthur? That BAST-”

“HEY!”

Lewis flinched, the flames doused as if a bucket of water had been poured over them. He touched down gingerly.

“Lewis...” Vivi wanted Arthur to be able to explain this himself, but she couldn’t just leave it alone. “With Arthur, what happened, that wasn’t him. There was a something in the cave and – he lost his arm-”

“You’re saying he was possessed?”

Vivi nodded mutely, and as she watched Lewis faded back into his ghostly appearance, flames rekindling and lit eyes staring down at his hands. After several moments his arms dropped back down by his side. “I want to take your word for it,” he said quietly. "But I can't. Not yet, at least." His hands clenched, fire flickering around his gloves, and Vivi resigned herself to the fact that this was one issue that would take longer to fix.

It hurt seeing Lewis this way, knowing it was him, but this was his reality now. The color started to fade from the room again. She was running out of time.

“Lewis,” she said urgently. “Do you still want to do this?”

“I...” He nodded, flames giving one last bright flare. “Yes. I want a chance to see you again.”

She breathed out. “Okay.” Running over Vivi put her arms around Lewis for one last hug. She didn’t know if she would be able to do this in person and she was going to make the most of it. “I love you,” she whispered. Lewis’ arms tightened around her, one hand cradling her head.

“I love you too.”

***

“Vivi?! VIVI!”

The girl found herself being shaken awake by Arthur, still in her pajamas and Mystery whining at her feet. She blinked a few times, confused. “What’s going on?”

Arthur had to take a few gasps to collect himself. “You were sleep walking a-and almost went into the street!” Vivi looked over and, sure enough, the three of them were on the shoulder of the road, standing the light of a streetlight. Suddenly she felt a bit queasy. 

“Um. Wow. Thanks for the save.”

Arthur had his hands on his knees, still recovering. “Just... no doing that again, okay?”

Before Vivi could respond, however, there was a flash and the streetlight above burst in a shower of purple sparks, all of them yelling at the falling debris. Arthur was definitely the loudest.

“That was not okay! NOT! OKAY!” 

Vivi stared at one of the small fires still going on the ground, elbowing Arthur before it went out. “Arthur, look.” It took him a few second to respond. “Why is it purple?” he asked, voice strained. She wasn’t the only one seeing it. Maybe... 

It was more than a dream after all.

Looking up at the street lamp she saw it give one last spark before fading out. It could have been a coincidence, but... no. It lined up too well. And she was going to listen. “I’ll find it, Lewis,” she murmured. No matter how long it might take.

“Okay guys,” she said, turning back to Arthur and Mystery.

“It’s time to talk about some dreams.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally the idea for this piece came from the theory that Vivi had lost her memory (which I take no credit for), but somewhere along the way it ended up character switch and I think it turned out alright. I'm not sure if I'm going to have the time to continue this, but either way I had a great time writing it and I'm open to what the future might bring.
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Edit: Made a slight change with Lewis talking about Arthur to fit better with the later chapters.


	2. Chapter 2

Yesterday’s breakfast had simply been subdued. This one...

This one was just painful.

He’d never known before how slowly he could eat a piece of toast. It was just a crunchy slice of bread, and yet somehow Arthur was managing to make this stretch out for several minutes. As for why he was eating like a sloth, well. Um. His thoughts would get back to that. Later.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Vivi watching his progress as she sipped her morning drink. She’d slowed her progress to match his, and as a result both of them were still sitting at breakfast well past any decent time. The only saving grace was that neither had to be at work right away, but that didn’t mean much at the rate they were going.

“Ahem.”

Arthur tried to ignore the voice from the other side of the kitchen.

“A-hem.”

The two of them turned slowly. Mystery sat on the floor a couple feet away, glaring. Hard.

“I notice there have been some... delaying tactics here related to last night.” Mystery took a moment to look between them, gaze still annoyed. “Either you two start talking about the topic at hand,” he said crisply, “Or you accept that it’s not happening and finish your food already.”

There was only a pause of a couple seconds before Arthur suddenly snarfed his toast and stood up, Vivi nearly choking on her drink. 

“Arthur, wait-!”

Mystery just placed a paw over his eyes.

“I, uh, have some stuff to do real quick,” Arthur said, not even believing the words himself. “Be back later!” And with that Arthur bolted, not waiting to hear anything else.  
Vivi stared after him slack jawed, her drink dribbling onto the table and Mystery heaving a sigh.

“Well. _That_ went wonderfully.”

***

Arthur had been running away from things for years. First it was bullies. Later on it was monsters. Running away from his problems? Simply the next step.

Oh, part of him knew it was an utterly terrible thing to do. Things would build up, he would never truly get past his issues, blah blah blah. Somewhere along the line though, he’d found it was easier to keep running. At least this way he didn’t spend his day to day existence as a wreck. It worked for him, and he kept doing it.

That is, until life made him trip and forced him to confront the problem.

There was a horrible crunch from the car in front of him, wrench turned one too many times and broken parts clattering to the floor as Arthur stared in horror. That... that part had been worth hundreds of dollars! For several moments he scrambled in vain to try and salvage what was left, not noticing the shadow that fell over him.

“Arthur. Go home.”

The mechanic jumped in surprise, wrench hitting the floor and just barely missing his toes. He turned to find uncle looking at him with a frown, arms crossed. For some the man’s height would have spoiled the effect, but Arthur knew him well enough to not be fooled. He’d stepped in it this time.

“But, I...” Arthur swallowed, getting his voice under control. “I’ve only been here a couple hours.”

Lance scowled. “That’s all I’ve needed to see that you’re in no shape to work today. You haven’t been fixing stuff, you’re breaking it!” The older man gave a sigh, shaking his head at the mangled car. “What the hell is going on with you today?”

Arthur’s face flickered through several different emotions, trying to spit out what was wrong while the rest of him ran away in a jibbering panic. Before he could attempt to speak however he felt his uncle’s hand grasp his forearm, Lance’s expression troubled. 

“Hey. Just... take today as sick day, okay?” Arthur stopped trying to force words out, giving a jerky nod. Lance gave the forearm a squeeze, letting go and stuffing his hands into his pockets. “Come talk to me when you can. I’ve only seen you react like that to one thing, so don’t make me hunt you down this time. Got it?”

“G-got it,” Arthur said.

The thing Lance was referring to, of course, was Lewis’ death. Arthur had been avoiding people and going on auto pilot for several weeks after getting out of the hospital, and it wasn’t until Lance confronted him that Arthur finally choked out what had happened, having been terrified he’d be kicked out. Instead Lance had brought him into a bear hug, letting him know just how much he wasn’t alone and that he really shouldn’t be trying to carry something like that all his lonesome, the friggin’ idiot. He’d gone back to not thinking about it after he’d told Vivi the truth, unable to fully face things, but it still helped immensely having people who understood what had happened. He wasn’t sure he deserved that kind of help, but that was an issue for another time.

Doing his best to clean up Arthur went ahead and clocked out, heading on back to the apartment. Vivi still had a few hours left at the Tome Tomb so he’d have the time to himself for the moment. By the time he unlocked the door Arthur felt his eyes starting to droop - seemed like the long night was finally catching up with him.  
Kicking off his shoes Arthur looked around, closing the door with his foot. “You there Mystery?”

Silence. 

Okay. Didn’t have to worry about a lecture yet at least. He made his way to the kitchen, searching through both cabinets and the fridge for the laziest meal available. 

“Seems like someone was a bit distracted at work today.”

... shit. Spoke too soon.

“H-hey Mystery.” Arthur closed the fridge a bit too quickly, not looking over at the canine. “You want me to get you something to eat?”

There was another stretch of silence.

“How about this,” Mystery said, walking into Arthur’s view. “You tell me your thoughts on current issues - and don’t worry what Vivi would think about it. She isn’t here. That’s your main hang up, yes?” He coughed. “And... a dog treat from the top shelf would be rather nice.”

Arthur mutely handed down a treat, Mystery starting to munch away and acting much more like an average dog. Even so, Arthur could tell Mystery was still watching him. Filling a glass from the tap Arthur went ahead and leaned against the counter, swirling the water around.

“It’s just...” He paused, staring at his glass. “What if Vivi’s wrong?” 

Arthur almost stopped right there, but Mystery was right. Vivi wasn’t here.

“All she has is a dream, and dreams are well... dreams.” He took a sip. “She said it felt real but aren’t all dreams like that? Feeling real in the moment.” His nightmares had taught him that much. Arthur fought off a shudder.

Mystery worked on his treat for a moment, crunching it between his teeth. 

“Usually,” he said, slightly muffled, “People recognize it as fake when they wake up. Vivi obviously thought differently.”

“But... what if that’s just what she wanted?”

Mystery looked straight at him. “What if it not being true is just what _you_ want?”

Silence. Arthur looked away.

“Yeah. Maybe,” he mumbled.

“Arthur. That ghost _was_ Lewis. You’re not getting away from that fact.”

Arthur jerked his head back around, face going blotchy. There was a strangle glint Mystery’s eyes.

“A-and why are you only saying this now?” He took another drink but nearly spilled some of it with how bad his hand was shaking. Mystery’s next bite on the treat was loud enough to make Arthur flinch.

“I figured you already knew as much,” he said, but then his eyes narrowed. “... you did know it was him, didn’t you?”

“Well, yeah!” Arthur stopped, looking down and his mumble even quieter than before. “... Maybe.”

Mystery groaned, finishing his treat in a few frustrated bites. “I am still astonished by your ability to deny the obvious.” He chewed a bit more slowly, swallowing. “... or at least, denying it after the fact.”

The dog waited expectantly for an explanation. Arthur opted for a diversion instead.

“Why didn’t you tell Vivi? She obviously didn’t know.” 

This time, Mystery was the one left in silence. 

“...Mystery?”

“I... don’t think she would have reacted well,” he said, giving a quiet cough and not meeting Arthur’s eyes. “She would have latched onto the fact with nothing to do, too many questions, no real way to act-”

“Like she’s doing now,” Arthur said, gripping his glass tightly.

Mystery glared, fur bristling, but eventually he settled down, sighing. “I don’t think the two are equivalent. She discovered it herself, and she has information this time-”

“Information that might not even be true.” He set aside his glass, starting to get a headache. “She’s still going to fixate Mystery. Waste weeks, months.” 

And failure would break her.

“... why is it so hard for you to take her word?” The dog’s eyes held legitimate confusion.

“Mystery, have you ever seen a ghost return after disappearing like that? Really come back?”

There was no answer.

Arthur’s shoulders slumped, the mechanic rubbing his eyes and sighing. “I’m going to go take a nap. Thanks for listening Mystery. I guess.” He turned to go to his room.

“You need to tell Vivi how you feel Arthur.” While he didn’t look, he could tell the dog had come up behind him.

“... I’ll think about it Mystery.” He walked out of the kitchen, closing his bedroom door behind him.

***

It was an old forest, dank, musty, and most of all dark even in the middle of the day. Rain had left the ground matted, skies above still overcast. Nothing stirred.

The silence unnerved Arthur. Sure, forests could be quiet, but they weren’t supposed to be... crypt level. Not normally, at least. All of this pointed to the animals being scared away by something.

Something big.

Slowly, coming from the west, sound began to filter in. But it wasn’t bird song, or even the rustling of a small animal. 

It was a horrible, scratching, rasping wheeze. 

Shocked with cold fear down to his toes Arthur scrambled behind a tree, pressing his back against the bark and hoping, pleading that the sound would turn around, go another way, just do something except come near him. He closed his eyes tight - and suddenly the world lurched, bark no longer at his back and him now looking out from behind a tree. Watching the source of the noise.

If he’d had anything in his stomach at that point, Arthur would have lost his lunch.

The wheezing came from a cougar - or at least, what had once been a cougar. Strips of skin had started to fall away from rotten muscles, the fibers that remained stuttering to keep the limbs moving forward and each dragging step left behind another scrap of flesh. Some ribs were bare, yellowed and discolored from decay, and yet, somehow, a wound from the stomach continued to ooze dark clotted blood, adding to the macabre trail being made.

Arthur backed away from the tree, ready to run, ready to bolt, when the cougar stopped and let out another rasping wheeze, back legs collapsing with a certain kind of finality.  
Green haze dribbled from its jaws.

A small, shrill scream built at the back of Arthur’s mind, every hair on his body standing up at once.

The cougar began to cough. And cough. And cough. Eventually the front legs cracked, sending the cat sprawling onto the ground, but it continued to spasm, head rolling back and forth. Coughing changed to choking, wet and strangled.

Arthur stared, frozen and shaking. He didn’t look away as something thin slipped out between the cougar’s teeth. Probed at the lips. Paused as three others followed, one short. Pulling, pushing away on the jaw before turning to the ground, dragging itself out into the leaves. Covered in slime. Something dark around the wrist.

Green.

Spots danced across his vision, heart hammering behind his eyes. No. Not again.

The arm raised up, balancing on its elbow and mangled top half.

No.

Something on the palm squirmed.

N-no!

An eye opened, green and black, looking through the woods. Turning, almost upon him, about to -

***

Arthur hunched over in his bed, hands tangled in his hair and breathing ragged. He’d forgotten to taken off his arm, thinking he might be fine since it was just a nap.

Stupid. Stupid!

Throwing off the covers he made his way to the bathroom, splashing his face from the sink and sputtering at the water that dribbled into his mouth. It’d been weeks since that thing had shown up in his nightmares. Months for the appearance before that. He wished it could have stopped there.

Arthur almost had to empty his stomach, but he held it off. Barely.

It was an intense nightmare, but that’s all it was. A nightmare. 

He walked back to his room, locking his door and sinking down at the end of his bed. Burying his face in his arms. Ignoring the burn of cold metal.

Vivi’s dream wasn’t real, and neither was his. 

It was just a dream. It had to be a dream.

It had to.


	3. Chapter 3

“Anything else you need dear?”

“I’m good Mrs. Pepper, thank you.”

The taller woman nodded, setting down the plate of candied jalapeños down next to the multitude of books and papers sprawled across Vivi’s booth table and walking on back to the kitchen. While she wasn’t alone in the restaurant it was definitely off hours, leaving Vivi with plenty of room for her work and not having to worry about prying eyes. Not to mention there was great food to keep her going.

That and it was a good place to remind her why she was doing this work.

Spearing a jalapeño slice with her fork so she wouldn’t get the sugar on her book, Vivi continued to flip through what looked like a mass market paperback - if paperbacks had info on necromancy. Awhile back they’d busted a guy who’d tried to self-publish his way to world domination, and along the way she’d pilfered some of the reading material. Most of it was crap, of course, but there’d still been glimpses of legitimate info among the self-inflated phrases.

Vivi slowed, seeing a passage on how to keep ghosts in the mortal plane – and closed the book with a sigh a second later. Once again, like a dozen volumes she’d already looked through, the process involved a good deal of binding, torture, and other such nasty business. Seemed like most necromancers didn’t want to keep ghosts around to be buddy-buddy - which, made sense honestly, but it still did squat diddly to help with her current problem.

Setting the book aside she went ahead and focused on the jalapeños for a bit, running over what she knew so far.

One: Lewis needed the locket to stick around and not completely poof.

Two: Neither of them had any idea where it was, or how much time they had left.

Three: The locket was some sort of ghostly anchor, which could either be a physical object the ghost was bound to, or a dense concentration of emotions and memories that took on a specific shape.

Four: Each functioned under a different set of rules.

Five: She had no clue which kind of anchor the locket was.

Six: She’d already searched the site of the Mansion for the locket, with no success.

Seven: It’d been over 2 weeks since the dream, and she still had nothing to show for it.

The current bite of food turned to lead in her mouth, and Vivi had to take an extra moment before swallowing. Spoiled appetite or not it’d be a capital offense to waste the Pepper’s cooking. She’d keep eating.

... well, once her eyes quit watering and her nose stopped running at least. 

Reaching for some napkins Vivi went ahead and blew her nose, concluding that the spice had finally gotten to her - conveniently ignoring the fact that she’d had several other hotter dishes earlier.

She tapped her pencil eraser on the table. Technically, there... was one lead she hadn’t gone after yet.

Starting to gather up the materials on her table Vivi went ahead and waved down Mrs. Pepper, doing her best to keep up a smile.

“I’m ready for my check, please.”

***

“Vivi. This is a _terrible_ idea.”

“You still agreed to come with me, didn’t you?”

“To try and keep you safe, you dunce!”

Vivi stuck her tongue out at Mystery, having to correct the wheel a second later when she realized she was drifting. The dog just settled down into his seat.

“... this is why Arthur is the one that drives.”

“Dude, you know he never would have agreed to this.”

“Tell me, would he have been wrong?”

Vivi didn’t reply, passing trees throwing shadows across the dashboard.

“Vivi?”

“I can’t not check this out Mystery.” They went around a corner a bit too quickly, but at least the turn signal was used. “It’s the site of death. That’s significant for ghosts, there could be something there.”

“And there could also be _nothing_. If we’re _lucky_.”

Vivi shot her dog a look. “You’re not siding with Arthur on this whole issue, are you?” Her friend had told her his feelings on the dream about a week ago, and while she understood where he was coming from it still stung. At the very least he’d agreed to help out if she asked, though she also knew it’d be best to leave him be for now. That conversation alone had left him wrecked.

For a few moments Mystery just grumbled. “I think,” he finally said, “both of you need to get your heads on straight. Being the constant sounding board for you two? It’s tiring.”

This time the look Vivi sent Mystery was a bit guiltier. “We’re... really that bad?”

“ _Yes_.”

“... oh.”

Mystery set his head back down on his paws with a huff, Vivi swallowing and going back to watching the road. She cleared her throat.

“I’ll go ahead and let you know when we’re there.”

“Thank you.”

The rest of the ride continued in relative silence, Vivi watching the road and Mystery giving warning whenever she was about to make a particularly bad driving mistake.

By the time the sun was edging towards the horizon they arrived at their destination.

Pulling off to the side of the road Vivi breathed deep, psyching herself up then throwing the door open and piling out of the car, Mystery following before she slammed the door shut. The cave maw loomed before them.

She exhaled hard through her nose. “W-we’re here, I guess.” 

A large warning sign and wire barricade stood in front of the entrance.

Mystery just looked up at her.

“... I’m not getting back in the car.”

The dog sighed. “This is still a terrible idea.”

“And I’m still doing it,” Vivi said, annoyed, though the effect was undermined by a tremor in her voice. “Are you coming or not?”

“... yes, though I will be filing a complaint with management when this is done.” He sniffed. “Poor decision making and such.”

She managed to get out a small smile, and before the mood could flee she walked on past the barricade and into the cave.

Daylight faded rapidly as they entered the cave, the last bits of sunlight throwing strange shadows around them and the sharp scent of stone permeating the place. Pulling an electric lantern out of her bag Vivi went ahead and turned it on, a pool of light settling around them. She’d technically brought a map but she had a feeling she wouldn’t need it. This place was stuck well enough in her mind already.

The trek itself was relatively quiet, her and Mystery only occasionally disturbing some bats or other small mammals. Part of Vivi was grateful for the lack of problems, and yet...

Reaching up Vivi went ahead and placed her hand on one of the cave walls. Cold. Damp. Unfinished.

And completely mundane.

She snatched her hand back, wiping the palm on her sweater. It was just a cave. That’s all it was.

Right.

When they came around the corner, Vivi stopped so abruptly that Mystery ran into her legs. He looked around, then up at her.

“Let’s not split up this time,” he said quietly.

“Agreed,” Vivi said, lantern illuminating the branch in the path. Left leading above, and right below.

“Left first.”

Marching ahead the two went through a wide corridor before coming to an out jutting cliff. Neither of them moved forward, Vivi instead holding out the lantern. The light went a few feet from the edge before being swallowed by darkness, the outline of stalactites the only sign that it wasn’t completely empty space. Vivi didn’t know how different the view might be from the edge. She wasn’t going to find out.

“See anything?” she murmured.

“No.”

“Time to go down below, then.”

They came away from the cliff. Vivi didn’t comment on how Mystery’s gaze lingered. He didn’t comment on her shuffling steps either.

The descent to the cavern floor was taken even slower, Vivi’s unease from earlier returning. She stopped at the path exit, a maze of stalagmites before her and breath catching in her throat.

She still saw it, imposed over the darkness. A plummeting shape. A spark of light following like a comet. Not even realizing what it was until the sound reached her, watching as the... torch guttered and died on the floor. Died -

Vivi shuddered, bringing herself back to the moment. Mystery had placed a paw on her leg, looking up at her.

“I can go look for you, if you want.”

She paused, then shook her head.

“No splitting up, remember?”

He wuffed. “True enough.”

Once again, her light only went a few feet into the cavern, but this time the stalagmites were more than just an outline, some of the formations taller than she was and numerous smaller ones peppered in between. To add to the wonderful atmosphere there was enough moisture for a thick bank of fog to have settled over the pillars, obscuring the floor and a couple feet on top of that.

Vivi resorted to sliding her feet forward on the floor, Mystery gingerly stepping behind and sometimes only his head showing above a fog patch. After a few moments, a horrible realization came to her.

How would they find anything under these conditions?

Pausing Vivi placed a hand on one of the stalagmites, working to remember where she’d been before. Where it all had happened, lit by torchlight. She wheeled the lantern around, but it illuminated nothing useful. Just more pillars, more fog. No path, no route-

Her arm stopping mid swing. It _hadn’t_ been by torchlight, the torch had died on the floor, which meant-

Vivi reached up, and turned off the lantern.

Darkness descended, so absolute that she couldn’t tell if her eyes were opened or closed. She heard Mystery give a startled growl.

“Vivi, what-”

“I didn’t have a light last time.” She had to work to keep her breathing normal. “I didn’t have a light but I could still _see_.” A shape brushed up against her leg, accompanied by the clink of a dog tag - Mystery. 

Vivi kept the lantern off even as her mind started to rebel against the dark. “The cavern... it was green.” Drenched in it, seeping into every corner, every thought- “And now that’s _gone_. But where?”

Mystery leaned into her. “I don’t know.” Not something he said often, and Vivi could hear the canine’s unease with the phrase. It looked like he’d gotten the “nothing” he’d hoped for - just not in a way he liked. 

Something flickered at the corner of Vivi’s eye - and every hair on her stood up at once.

That wasn’t “nothing.”

Turning slowly Vivi faced the faint light source, so faint that she’d only been able to notice it once her eyes adjusted. A cluster of stalagmites looked as if they were bathed in splattered black light, the florescence dripping down the sides before pooling at the base. That was Weird enough, and yet ever so faintly some of the light trailed upward, transparent wisps like the smoke from a dying fire.

The light was purple.

Throat closing up Vivi worked her way forward on feel alone, keeping the light in the center of her vision and stepping away from Mystery. This time he followed without asking; the light was enough of an answer on its own. 

The glow seemed to be self-contained, throwing little to no light on its surroundings - holding her hand in front of the stalagmites simply left a black cut out in the view. She’d heard about this, a sort of... radioactive footprint left by a ghost’s creation.

Vivi would have been more excited if she didn’t know where this one had come from.

She crouched down, examining the base of the formation. Even with the fog the faint light remained visible, outline stark through the mist. Reaching forward she attempted to wave away some of the fog when a wisp of light came up and touched her palm.

The sensation could only be described as a, well, _slither_ , and Vivi jerked her hand back, rubbing her palm with her other thumb. On a hunch she placed her hand over the light again.

Several wisps reached up at once.

She made an even hastier retreat this time. 

“Well that’s. Different.” Remnants like these should be passive, like splatted paint. This was like watching that paint start to crawl along the floor. Current situation or not... she was intrigued.

She started looking over to Mystery - then remembered she couldn’t see anything outside of the light. Better to just stick to sound for now.

“Mystery, start looking for the locket.”

“You okay here?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said, waiting for him to go. She wasn’t sure if he would approve of what she had in mind next.

As soon as she heard Mystery’s dog tags moving away Vivi began fumbling through her bag, eventually pulling out the folded paper that was the map. In this lighting it was thoroughly unreadable but that didn’t matter. She was going to be using it for something else.

Slowly standing up Vivi wrapped the map around her right hand, looking for what she needed - there! The stalagmite was midway towards the top, with a thin and, hopefully, fragile tip. She flexed her fingers, took a deep breath, and grabbed the stalagmite with her paper wrapped hand.

Immediately her hand was engulfed by writhing tendrils of light, and even through the paper it felt like her hand was dunked in ice water - _electrified_ ice water. The tingling sensation began to move up her arm, setting off a dozen alarm bells in her head. But she didn’t take her hand away. Instead, she set her feet, and pulled. 

The tip came away with a quiet snap.

Now was the important part - seeing if the light would remain now that it was away from the source.

Vivi opened her hand, and sure enough the pointed fragment of rock continued to glow, wisps of light resuming their passive trailing upwards. There were more questions than she could count here... but what was done was done. Now at least, she had something she could look at later.

Taking the paper off her hand and wrapping it around the rock Vivi watched as the light winked out of sight, invisible in the dark before she stuffed it into her bag. Now it was time to check on the main goal.

“Finding anything, Mystery?”

“No.” The voice was more than a little annoyed. “I think I might be time to turn back on the lights.”

“What about the... ghost footprint?”

The sound of jingling tags was coming back towards her. “That’s just visual. We know where it is.”

In a way, that was true. Even if she couldn’t really see the light anymore, she still had the source it was connected to. There was nagging feeling she was missing something, though. She could figure that out in a minute.

Screwing her eyes shut so that she wouldn’t blind herself Vivi turned the lantern back on, giving her eyes a moment to adjust. Before she could open them back up however, she heard something. A keening whine.

Wait, was that... Mystery?

Her eyes snapped open - and all too suddenly she realized what her mind had been trying to tell her. The footprint had to have a source. There was a discoloration on the stones, following the pattern of the ghost footprint exactly. Rust colored.

Blood. 

Her right hand itched, and for a moment she fought the urge to chuck her bag across the cavern, half convinced the stone fragment would burn right through it. Blood, she’d been willfully taking a sample of Lewis’ _blood_. 

Fog swirled around her feet, darkness silent and oppressive outside the pool of lantern light.

“I want to go home,” Vivi said quietly. All at once her voice had become strained and tired, one hand in a white knuckle grip on her bag strap.

She’d come here looking for answers, for solutions, but all she’d found was a lingering fear, green presence gone, and a grave. Disposed of and forgotten.

Empty.

“... we can go.” 

Mystery sat at her feet, looking up at her and paw once again placed on her leg. No rubbing in that he’d told her so or that it’d been a bad idea to begin with. Just a sad, understanding gaze. 

Vivi was grateful.

It still hurt.

Carefully but steadily the two of them made their way out of the cave, not pausing for any details or distractions. The stone remained in Vivi’s bag. Whether she just couldn’t bear to touch it or let Mystery see what she’d done, she didn’t know. In the damnable words of before, what was done was done.

They emerged into the light of the stars and moon, car still there and the night noise of bugs and animals filtering back into their senses. Neither of them spoke as they walked over and got into the car. Vivi shut the door, turned the key, and started down the road, rolling down the window to let the blowing wind and mundane noises ground her in the present.

***

This time, Vivi found herself in the crypt.

While she hadn’t been there before, it matched the description Arthur had given her - archways partially covered by tattered red drapes, standing cauldrons lining the stairs, and at the top... a coffin. A few things were different, at least - the cauldrons only held the barest coals, and the edges of the room faded away in a manner that had nothing to do with the lighting.

Lewis sat on the steps.

His appearance was an in between of death and life. He wore a dark version of his favorite outfit in life, the seams of his vest outlined in a glowing purple and black heart buttons fastening white sleeves, and while the skull was gone his eyes remained the same, pitch black with small rings of light as the only color. His hair flickered, giving off small flames.

Vivi sat down next to him, watching as Lewis rested his forearms on his knees and stared into the distance. The shadow of the missing locket remained on his chest.

It had spread.

Without a word Vivi placed a hand on his back, waiting. Eventually Lewis spoke.

“I’m scared.”

Just that quiet statement, nothing else. It was enough.

“Me too,” Vivi said quietly.

They sat there for a while, staying close to each other and flames continuing to spin off of Lewis’ hair. She saw one spark and burn out, and a lump grew in Vivi’s throat.

“Lewis, I’m sorry-”

“Vivi, _don’t_.” He reached down, placing his hand over hers. “This isn’t your fault, okay? I’m the one who can’t find his own stuff.”

“I just...” Her thoughts swirled over what she’d done in the cave earlier today. At first there was guilt, but it soon gave way to thinking about the lack of answers. Vivi gave a frustrated sigh. “I hate feeling like I’m always four steps behind.” Running in circles with nothing to show for it. She was sick of it. 

There was another pause, Lewis mulling over his words.

“Do you-” He hesitated. “Do you think the locket might have disappeared already?”

Vivi shook her head, squeezing Lewis’ hand. “You’re here, and you’re still you. To me, that means it’s still around.”

She hoped.

He didn’t respond right away.

“That’s the thing,” he said, looking away. “I’m not still ‘me.’ I keep forgetting, Vivi.” The flames in his hair became more erratic. “I keep forgetting and none of it makes SENSE!”

She had to back away as the fire flared up, a wash of heat battering her face.

The tug on his hand made Lewis turn back around, alarmed. Just below his skin was an after image of the skull. It faded after a few seconds but his expression closed off, him turning away. “S-sorry...”

“Lewis...” Vivi searched for the right words. “If it’s easier to be... skeletal, it’s okay.”

“N-no, it’s just...” Lewis shook his head. “Just me being upset. That’s all.” He didn’t sound that convinced.

“Well, I’m fine with however you look, okay?”

“Okay.” The smile was weak, but it was still a smile. It would have to do for now.

While Lewis was doing better than the start of the last dream, Vivi could tell that he was rapidly deteriorating. It wouldn’t be long before he was back at that point - or worse. She needed more time, a backup plan, _something_. 

Anything that wasn’t admitting it might be too late. 

“I can tell you stories, if you want,” Vivi said, reaching down to wrap both of her hands around Lewis’. “Times we had together. It’s not much but... it shouldn’t hurt.”

Lewis laced his fingers through hers. 

“I’d like that a lot, actually.”

She started with simple things - times they’d met the restaurant, early cases as a group, one hotel room they’d joked was scarier than the case they’d just worked on. As Lewis started to fill in some details himself, even laughing at inside jokes, Vivi moved onto longer and more detailed tales. He followed for the most part - but Vivi did notice one thing. Mentions of Arthur would make him go quiet, his expression frustrated and confused. She didn’t cut Arthur from the stories, but she did keep an eye on Lewis whenever he came up. Luckily, the confusion was as bad as it ever got.

Coming to a lull in the storytelling Vivi saw Lewis deep in thought, shadow on his chest shifting and a few more flames spinning off his hair. He started to speak, stopped, then finally got the words out a moment later.

“Can... I stay with you for the night?”

For wild moment Vivi was brought back to one of their earlier dates, a young and nervous Lewis trying to figure out the right way to spend more time with her without being too pushy. The face she saw right now was almost identical, eyes uncertain but hopeful, and even with the current situation she found herself smiling. What Lewis hadn’t realized at the time is she’d been waiting for just that kind of moment to happen - and she’d been all too happy to agree.

Some things didn’t change.

“You’re more than welcome to,” she said, reaching up to ruffle his hair. There was an instant of panic when she realize it might not be a good idea to shove her hand into something giving off flames, but instead of being burned to a crisp she simply found a pleasant warmth, her fingers mussing the purple strands. 

Lewis laughed at the touch - a laugh! - and, for that moment, Vivi let herself feel like things might just turn out okay.

The stories began once again, their voices continuing well into the night as the coals burned quietly in the crypt.


	4. Chapter 4

When Arthur saw her the next morning, he freaked.

Before Vivi even knew what was happening she found herself thrown into the bathroom and the door shut behind her. A second later she heard it being blocked. Her jaw dropped.

“Arthur, what the hell?! Arthur!” She tried opening the door, but no luck.

Out in the apartment she heard Arthur running around and swearing in a panic, and, not surprisingly, something was knocked over with a crash. Mystery joined in with the yelling but they were too far away for her to hear what they were saying.

Seriously. What the hell?

Vivi tried to open the door a few more times but it wouldn’t budge, and she kicked it in frustration.

“ARTHUR!”

The door opened so fast that Vivi was nearly hit in the face. There was Arthur, holding an absurd amount of exorcism supplies and an expression so panicked it bordered on manic. She stumbled backwards.

“Arthur, what on-”

Vivi stopped, seeing herself in the mirror. Her eyes

Black sclera and a pink iris.

“... oh.”

At the realization she felt something stir in the back of her mind, sluggish, before devolving into a panic that wasn’t her own. A moment later it fled, and Vivi watched as the unnatural color drained away from her eyes. She looked back over to Arthur, pale and eyes wide.

“I... think I’m okay now.”

He looked her in the eye, nodded, backed up, and promptly sat down hard, gasping for breath and supplies scattering all over the floor. Soon Mystery came up beside him, whining softly and pushing his head under a hand.

Vivi knelt down, shaking as Arthur continued to hyperventilate, and cupped his face in her hands. She almost winced at how hard he flinched.

“Arthur. I’m here. I’m okay.” She had to fight past a frog in her throat, Arthur’s face still far too raw. “I’m still me. You are not losing me. You are not going to be left alone, okay?” 

His breathing slowed ever so slightly. “O-okay,” he said, then hugged her tightly, body shaking with hiccupping sobs. Vivi held on just as hard, keeping her breaths steady.

“I’m so sorry.” Arthur sniffed. “I just - I saw it and I panicked and-” his voice cracked, eyes going wide. “Oh god that was a terrible place to put you what if you’d gotten hurt what if-”

“Arthur. Shhh.” Vivi pulled out of the hug, placing her hands on Arthur’s shoulders. “You did what you could. It’s over. We’re both okay.” For all the comforting words however part of Vivi wanted to break down right along with Arthur. Being possessed like that, and not even realizing it?

It scared the crap out of her.

She tried to think on how it could have happened - and then felt like the breath was knocked out of her when it hit her. The eye color. Her dream last night.

Lewis.

“Arthur?”

He looked over at her, expression scared. “Y-yeah?”

“That possession, I think...” Vivi made herself spit it out. “I think it was Lewis.”

It was dead silent for a few moments, Vivi placing her hands on the floor beside her and watching nervously for Arthur’s reaction. He just continued to stare at her.

“I... had another dream with him last night. And at the end I said he could stay.” She chewed on her lip, almost wanting to stop as she saw Arthur’s eyes get wider and wider. “I think that counted as... inviting him in.”

There was no response. Slowly but ever so surely Arthur lowered his head onto his knees, right hand tangling in his hair and the other flopping onto the floor in defeat.

“Can I get a refund on my life, please?”

Mystery looked over sharply at Vivi.

“Are you sure?” Overall, he seemed calm but Vivi could tell by the bristling fur that he was just as freaked as they were.

Vivi nodded, noticing that Arthur had tilted his head just enough to watch over the side of one knee.

“It’s the only thing that really makes sense. And aren’t your wards-” 

She stopped, taking her turn to look sharply at the canine. “Why didn’t they stop this? Mystery?” The ‘invitation’ explained possession itself, but not how he’d gotten past those.

Arthur raised his head slowly, wrapping his arms around his legs.

“You know something,” she said, both of them now staring fully at Mystery.

“... you’re not going to like it.”

Vivi outright glared. 

“I was just possessed, and now you’re not going to tell me why? _Spill_ , pooch.”

“ _Pooch_?”

“Hey, I don’t see you giving Arthur crap for it!” she said, ignoring the slight start Arthur gave at the mention of his name. “And don’t change the subject!”

Mystery muttered something about “matter of principle” but cleared his throat none the less.

“If you insist. But I did warn you.” 

“The simple answer is that Lewis bypassed the wards because he has a connection to you.”

“... And?” Part of Vivi wanted to pursue just what Mystery meant by that, but she could tell this wasn’t what had made him hesitate.

He exhaled. “I believe the connection was formed when you saw the creation of Lewis’ ghost.”

Vivi looked at him, puzzled - then her eyes widened when the words sunk in. Arthur also looked at Mystery in horror.

“Yes. You have the connection... because you watched Lewis die.” 

***

If waking up to find Vivi possessed had made things go sideways, this had turned them completely upside down.

Arthur watched the last of the color drain out of Vivi’s face, her lips thinning as she breathed out hard through her nose. He was in no ways okay with this new revelation - and if wasn’t okay with it, Vivi would be even worse. Mystery just sat there miserably.

It took several moments but Vivi finally shook herself out, standing up and hands bunched in the fabric of her pajama pants. She didn’t look at either of them.

“That’s... that’s good to know,” she said. “It makes sense, at least.” Several more words seemed to stand on the tip of her tongue but she swallowed them, throat bobbing visibly. Arthur didn’t even want to know what kind of memories were playing through her head right now. His own were bad enough. 

Vivi gave up spitting out whatever she’d been thinking, shoulders hunching over. “I’m gonna go get ready for work. See you guys.” And she left the room, gone just as Arthur got to his feet. He stood there, useless, hand reaching after where she’d been.

“... shit.”

Ever since yesterday she’d been acting out of it, and now this had come along before he’d gotten the chance to talk to her. They’d supported each other more than he could say after that night, but how much of a friend did it make him if he was taking up all the attention? Come _on_ Arthur, get your shit together.

... Actually.

Maybe that was what he needed to do.

Part of his brain was gibbering from what this dream this morning meant, and from even more things that hadn’t quite percolated through yet, but he made his noodle legs move anyway. He would work today. He would show he could do this, he would be that good friend, he would -

Trip over Mystery.

Arthur went down in a heap with a yell, the canine giving his own startled yell as he got tangled in Arthur’s legs.

“S-sorry!”

The two extracted themselves, Arthur ending up on his back and resting on his elbows as Mystery tried to fix his crooked glasses. He braced himself for a lecture, but instead Mystery just sighed.

“What I wouldn’t give for some sake right now,” he mumbled, shaking out his fur. He looked over to Arthur. “I’m going to check on Vivi. You okay?”

“I’m okay.”

Mystery gave him ‘the look.’ Arthur swallowed.

“Really!”

He could tell that Mystery didn’t believe him for a second but the canine just sighed again, turning around and walking to Vivi’s room.

Okay, maybe he wasn’t ready to work today. And he really wasn’t okay, though honestly, who was right now? There was one thing he could do at least.

Peeling himself off the floor Arthur went to his room and retrieved his phone, dialing number for the mechanic shop and his other hand fidgeting with the hem of his shirt as it rang. He nearly dropped the phone out of nerves when the other end picked up.

“Kingsmen Mechanics, this is Lance.” Arthur heard several power tools going in the background. His uncle must have been in the main work area.

“Oh, uh, hey Uncle Lance! This is Arthur. I need to talk about something?”

It was several seconds before he heard any sort of response, the background noise fading and the sound of a door being closed a few moments after. “Yeah? What is it?”

“Your offer to talk? Can we do that now?” 

Once again his uncle went silent, Arthur’s metal hand bunching up even more of his shirt. The fact that he’d moved into another room suggested Lance had already knew he was going to ask, but the pause still sent his nerves skyrocketing. 

“You sure you don’t want to do this in person?”

Arthur gave an explosive sigh of relief at hearing his uncle talk again, hastily starting to talk himself before Lance might cut in. 

“I don’t want to break another car. Or crash my own” An exaggeration perhaps, though with how he’d had to just make himself sit on the edge of the bed with how much he was shaking, maybe not by much.

“... alright. I’ll mark you down, but it’s coming out of your sick days. I have business to run, you know.”

“Thanks Lance.”

“Don’t thank me yet, you’re still on for tomorrow.” Computer keys clacked in the background. Arthur waited patiently for the changes to be made, and soon enough his uncle was back.

“I’m ready. Talk.”

Arthur launched into explaining what had happened at the mansion earlier that month, how Lewis was back as a ghost, what they’d had to deal with, and how Vivi had started chasing after her dream lead. Every now and again Lance would interrupt with a question but for the most part he simply listened, going dead quiet when Arthur finally built up his courage and told someone for the first time about his own nightmares.

“... and that’s most of it, really,” he finished, having to force his metal hand to relax with how tightly it’d been clenched, and waited for a reply.

“SHIT son! No wonder you were a mess that day!” 

Arthur nearly fell off the bed with how loud the expletive was, and he devolved into breathy laughter a moment later with the sudden release of tension. It actually did feel good to have this off his chest. He still wasn’t great by any means, but it was better.

“Thanks for listening Lance.”

“What kind of uncle would I be if I didn’t? Though I think I need a drink after that.” He paused. “We both need a drink after that.”

“I’ll take you up on that another time,” Arthur said, both of them knowing he was too much of a lightweight to handle much liquor. It was the thought that counted.

A door opened and the sound of the shop filtered back in through the phone, Lance moving back towards work now that the meat of the conversation was over. He still had a few parting comments, however.

“Let me guess, I was the guinea pig?”

“Er...” 

Lance snorted on the other end.

“You are way too see-through Arthur. Let me know how it goes with Vivi, alright?”

“I-I will. Thanks again Lance.” He was in no way ready for it, but he was going to get it out there once Vivi got home. Arthur owed her that much at least.

“Not a problem. See ya tomorrow Arthur.”

“See you then.”

***

Vivi put the last books of the day on the shelf as the sun started to set outside, doing her best to ignore the pointed looks her manager had been giving her. Duet had picked up on her weird vibe the moment she’d gotten into work today, and while they wouldn’t pry Vivi knew they’d still exert a sort of parental pressure to open up about what was going on. That wasn’t going to happen, but there might be something else they could help with.

“Hey, Duet?”

“Yes Vivi?”

Her manager was at the front register, arms resting on the counter and fingers laced as they patiently waited for Vivi to say what she wanted. They continued to wait for several more seconds as the clock ticked past the end of her shift.

“I was hoping I could take home some material from the specialty section today.” 

“Oh?” Duet stood up straight, hands now resting on the counter instead. “Is there anything in particular you have in mind?”

The specialty section, kept in the back of the store away from customers, seemed to cover the same sort of horror and fantasy topics as the most of the other books, with one key difference - it was true. Vivi was both one of the biggest customers and suppliers, but it’d been a long time since she’d asked for anything, and what she had in mind was a bit more sensitive than usual.

As she listed off the titles Duet’s eyebrows raised, fingers from one hand tapping against the counter.

“That is quite the selection you have in mind. I do have some available, but rental only.” They flashed an unsettling grin. “You can’t afford the purchase price.”

“I’m fine with that, give me what you got,” Vivi said, coming behind the counter herself to gather up her things. This was the first time Duet had given her that sort of disclaimer, and she wasn’t sure if it boded well for what she might find. She had to try though.

Bowing their head slightly in acknowledgement Duet went to retrieve the titles in question, returning a moment later with two large hardbound books and a slim paperback. They set them on the counter, bringing out a small notebook and writing in both the titles and the date.

“You have one week, and no damage.” They tore out the page from the notebook, handing to Vivi as a receipt before writing in the notebook again for their own records. “I trust your care in books, but with these titles it bears repeating.”

“Thanks Duet,” she said, carefully putting the books into a padded section of her bag. “I’ll get them back as soon as I can.”

Duet shook their head. Vivi stopped, hand hanging over her bag in uncertainty.

“Don’t thank me.” 

The store was silent for several seconds outside of the ticking of the clock, Duet’s eyes boring into her.

“Your choices are your own,” they finally said, returning to lacing their fingers. “But be careful of the path you are going down. It is not to be tread lightly.”

“I...” Vivi had to take a moment to swallow, deeply unsettled. “I understand.” She’d know for a while that Duet knew more than they let on, but this was the first time they’d shown it so blatantly.

Hastily gathering the rest of her things Vivi wrote down her end shift time on the time card, looking over to Duet and mustering the best smile she could as she began to walk out.

“See you next shift!”

Duet simply stared after her, their next words almost too quiet to hear.

“For your sake, I hope that is true.”


	5. Chapter 5

Arthur had hoped Vivi would understand when he told her the truth. He was afraid she’d get angry.

He certainly hadn’t expected this.

Vivi leaned in even closer towards him, fingers steepled over her mouth as she stared at his left shoulder.

“Take off your shirt. And your arm.”

“I... what?!”

“It’ll make sense in a moment, trust me!”

Before Arthur could ask for any sort of explanation Vivi had leaped up to go to the light switch, and he had to hastily work at the release on his arm before he was left in the dark, both figuratively and literally. After a few moments it was finally off, and he sighed, pulling off his shirt a moment later. He started to shiver.

“Still needing to work on those abs, I see,” Mystery said with a smirk.

“Oh shut up,” he mumbled. 

Vivi shouted from the other side of the room.

“You good to go Arthur?”

“Yeah! I’m good!”

The lights went off and the apartment went dark, a few street lights shining through the windows that were soon covered by curtains and a blanket being thrown over that.

Vivi walked back over and crouched by him, only visible as a faint outline from the little bit of light came around the blanket and curtain.

“It’s going to take a few minutes for our eyes to adjust, okay?”

“Uh... Okay?” Arthur still had no idea what was going on, and he started to pick at the couch with his remaining hand. Vivi’s hunches often proved right, but getting to the point could be kind of... interesting. Mystery yawned somewhere off to the side.

“THERE!”

Both Arthur and Mystery jumped at the sudden exclamation, Vivi’s eyes sparkling as the outline of her hand pointed as his missing arm.

“Arthur, look!”

Ever so slowly he turned his head, doing his last bit of procrastinating on seeing what Vivi had found.

There, on his stump and the metal he connected his arm to on the end, foggy green light twisted and trailed upwards.

“What the _fuck_?!” He wanted to run away from whatever the hell this was, but since it was well, attached to him, he was kind of stuck. Vivi had practically started to bounce up and down.

“I thought about nightmares you had and wondered if there might be any sort of thing like the connection Mystery said I had with Lewis and if you did I thought it might show up like his did in the cave and-”

“Whoa whoa _whoa_ , what’s this about the cave?” 

The bouncing stopped dead, turning into nervous fidgeting. 

“Um... yesterday I kind of.” She paused, the rest of the words coming out in a rush. “Went to the cave with Mystery to see if I could find the locket. I didn’t think you’d want to come with.”

She was certainly right about that bit. No wonder she’d been out of it yesterday.

The mention of her own connection however had him looking back at her, and he gave a start.

“V-Vivi! Your eyes are glowing!”

The violet lit eyes widened in shock and before he knew it she had run off to the bathroom, presumably to use the mirror. Her shout came back a few moments later.

“Hot DAMN! You’re right!” Feet thumping against the floor she ran back, flipping on the light and Arthur having to cover his eyes against the sudden glare. Blinking away the last of the light spots he lowered his arm, finding Vivi crouched in front of him with a grin.

“Looks like we’re both glowy weirdos, huh?” Her smile faded, however, when she remembered exactly why they were ‘glowy.’ 

Giving a sigh she went ahead and sat down next to Arthur, picking up his arm and helping him put it back on. Arthur watched quietly as she worked on the metal clasps.

“So... what now?” He flexed his fingers once the final connection was made, giving the limb a few spins after Vivi had sat back and pulling on his shirt after that was done. She gave a small shrug.

“I’ll keep doing research I guess. And we can let each other know if we have anymore dreams.”

Arthur sincerely hoped he wouldn’t have any more of those nightmares, but it was as good a start as any. The clock began to chime the hour, going through eleven rings. How was it already this late?

“I think I need to head to bed,” he said, rubbing at his eyes. It’d been a long day. “You?”

“I’m going to stay up to work on things.” She waved him off when he looked at her. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” 

Arthur wasn’t so sure, knowing she’d had just as long of a day as he had, but he decided to trust her. They both had their way of dealing with things after all. 

Standing up Arthur went ahead and stretched his arms out behind his back, right hand coming up afterwards to rub his neck.

“Don’t stay up too late, alright?”

“As if you haven’t stayed up just as late working on your arm,” Vivi said, crossing her arms.

He winced. Okay, she had him there. But she did still need to sleep eventually. Giving one last wave he headed off to his room.

“Night Vivi.”

“Good night Arthur.”

The bedroom door closed, Vivi heading to her own a moment later as the apartment settled back into darkness.

***

Duet hadn’t been kidding about these books.

Vivi swallowed at one of the diagrams presented to her, very informative but far more graphic than the books she was used to. She guessed it was to be expected when the others were derivatives of the original source material.

Which just happened to be a step by step necromancy manual.

Okay, maybe this had been a terrible idea. Already she had a feeling that some of this info was going to end up in her eventual nightmares, and yet... she was learning a lot from this. Perhaps too much.

Doing her best to only glance at the diagram Vivi jotted down a few more notes, florescent desk lamp illuminating the numerous sprawled books and papers and her earbuds hooked up to some mindless videogame music. As long as she didn’t think too hard about what she was reading or writing she’d be fine. She wrote for several more minutes, occasional ink blots being left behind by her pen.

Page done she double checked between the book and her notes. Okay, okay... not okay, a complete mess, where had she even gotten that sentence? Vivi sighed and ripped out the page of notes, crumpling it up and throwing it by a paper wrapped lump and several other wadded papers. The problem with not thinking too hard about the material was she kept messing up half her notes. If she was going to learn anything, she couldn’t skirt around it. It was time to commit.

Flipping back to where she’d started having issues Vivi took the time to fully read each sentence, forcing her way through the archaic grammar as her music droned in on the background. She’d figured out the pieces to a solution earlier today. There was no telling if it’d work yet, or even how it’d work, but it had too much potential for her to just ignore. And after seeing Lewis continuing to struggle last night... she was willing to take a few risks.

Her music ran to an end, Vivi too absorbed to notice that it had stopped and her pen digging into her fingers with the strength of her grip. She ignored the cramp forming in her wrist as she started on a new page. Tonight. She wanted to finish this tonight.

Her body, unfortunately, had different ideas. Sentences started skidding away under her eyes. Vivi would read the words, reach the end of page, and realize she’d processed none of it. Again and again she’d restart, forcing herself to try and absorb it only to jerk awake from nodding off. No, she had to keep going, she...

Pen clattering onto the desk Vivi sagged forward onto her arms, a small part of her brain remembering to push the book out of the way before she came down.

She was out in less than a minute.

***

The voices were familiar, but just out of reach. 

“The room... no, not yet... can’t...” 

This almost seemed clearer than usual.  

“I can’t say goodbye to him yet.” 

Other things began to filter in along with the voices. Soft edges, blunted and fuzzy from lack of light. Moonlight cutting through a window and showing the outline of a bed. Comforter with the top folded down. Stuffed animals by a pillow. Picture frames. Books. Clothes. A desk covered in dust. A door. 

Open.

The sound seemed to come from beyond that opening, paired faint golden light down one side of the hall. Still out of reach. 

And then it wasn’t.

Now the view was of the golden lit hallway, just before it opened up to the room the light was coming from. An edge of a couch peeked around the corner, lamp sitting by its side.

“Have you heard anything yet?” A soft voice, a man, pitched low to avoid waking anyone else in the house.

“Not yet.” A second voice, feminine. “Hiring does take time.”

The first voice sighed. 

“It just feels...”

“Too soon. I know.” Couch springs creaked. “But there’s too much to handle on our own, and it’s been almost a year. The girls come first.”

“Might cutting hours help?”

This time the second voice had to pause.

“The customers expect us to be open,” she said.

“They’re not our family.”

Both voices went silent, the wind heard faintly outside the house walls. The woman came back in first.

“I’ll consider it if we can’t find anyone.”

“Okay.” The couch springs creaked again, louder. “It’s been a long night. We should sleep.”

“I’ll be there in a minute.”

One set of footsteps was heard going up the stairs, away from the hallway. The other...

From one blink to the next the view had returned to the room, footsteps coming closer. Soon, a figure came to the doorway, framed in silhouette by the light from the hallway. Tall, dark skin, long wine colored hair. She rested a hand on the door frame, taking in the room, stopping to think, and... to speak. 

“... Good night, Lewis.”

She closed the door behind her. 

Lewis stood there, failing to catch the breath he no longer had, overwhelmed as moonlight shined through him. This house. His mom. Her voice. His _name_. He turned, fully taking in the space he was in.

Where he was right now... this had to be his room. He was alarmed that it’d taken so long for him to realize it, at how his memories refused to catch up and fill in the blanks, and yet it was the only thing that made sense.

Looking down Lewis saw, that, sure enough, he was next to invisible. Only the faintest outline of a glove, or a shoe, could be seen when he moved. 

He took some time to take a closer look at the items he’d seen earlier. The plush on the bed - a giant fluffy alpaca, given to him by... someone important. His sisters? Vivi, maybe? A purple vest with an ascot around the hanger in the closet. Part of one of the first outfits in high school that had really made him feel good, confident. He couldn’t remember exactly how, but it knew it’d become his favorite. 

None of the different book titles were familiar, though some sent a flow of warmth through his chest - one, in particular, Lewis knew he’d read with Vivi. A small metal sculpture on the desk, made of welded nuts and bolts, caused acid to scorch through his thoughts. Arthur. But the feeling dissipated, unable to be sustained with his fragmented memories. What he felt, what Vivi had told him... it didn’t line up.

Finally, Lewis came to the photos.

Some were mounted on the walls, a few by the bed, and the most important sat on the desk, next to the statue from Arthur and an old sakura branch in a bottle from Vivi. Birthday with his family. New years with the gang, Arthur and Vivi throwing up cheesy peace signs as fireworks burst in the background. An anniversary, Vivi held in his arms. Lewis reached out a hand, wanting so badly to pick up one of the photos, but stopped. Something was resting behind them, propped up against the wall. Cracked. Blue.

His locket.

For a long moment he just stared, unable to process what he was seeing. All that time, of waiting, worrying, feeling as if he was going to disappear for good, and it’d been _here_? It made no sense at all. And yet...

After that night, he’d though he’d lost his chance. Revenge, love, both had fled in one awful moment and he was left fading away. And after those two things, the next most important thing he’d had left... was his family. 

Now he realized he’d been here the entire time, simply too weak or scattered before now to manifest, the new purpose not being enough to sustain him on its own. Lewis didn’t know how Vivi was connected in all of this, and even has he stared at the locket something still felt like it was missing. Right now, though, neither of those things mattered.

He had chance to start again.

Reaching down Lewis touched the locket, a spark of golden light flowing down from his hand and into the anchor. For several seconds, nothing seemed to happen. He waited patiently. Almost too faint to see, it began to beat.

With each soft beat light began to grow around the edges, snaking down into the cracks and slowly spreading to the rest of the heart. As the light grew so did the strength of the beating, and now with each pulse it began to float into the air, spinning in place, drifting over to rest in front of his chest. 

Beat. 

He felt the air against his face. 

Beat.

Color creeped back into his form, spreading outwards from beneath the heart in black tendrils and twining together to build the suit, his arms, his legs, still transparent but growing stronger.

Beat.

Memories were piecing back together. Days with his family, his friends, new cases, old cases, the pain of his death, the wait, the end... the start of something new.

Beat.

He began to -

CRACK.

Lewis went rigid in agony. His heart pulsed frantically, like a caged bird, in the grip of something that had come from behind him. _Through_ him. A hand. Rotted with black nails. 

Green.

“ _Welcome home._ ”

It laughed, echoing for an eternity, and the sound seeped into the corners of his very soul.


	6. Chapter 6

She was awoken by Arthur’s scream.

Vivi sat bolt upright, arms skidding on discarded note paper and breathing hard as after images of the dream flickered over her eyes. She wanted it to just be a nightmare, a bad joke, but that scream -

Arthur slammed open the door to her room, shaking uncontrollably and looking as if he was about to puke. “V-Vivi...!”

One look at each other’s faces and they knew that what they’d just dreamed about wasn’t only a nightmare. Vivi’s pulse began to hammer in her ears.

Mystery arrived a few seconds after Arthur, fur standing completely on end and his tail quivering. “Would someone explain what is going on?!”

By this point Arthur had sunk onto Vivi’s bed, still shaking. His voice came out as a croak.

“My arm. In the Pepper house. Attacked Lewis.” Arthur’s voice failed at that point.

Vivi continued the best she could. 

“He was in his old room and found his locket, I don’t know how, but then the... that _thing_ grabbed it through him and laughed, and...”

Words failed her now too, the last few images playing over and over through her head. The hope that had shown on Lewis’ face as the locket returned. The shock as the hand burst through his chest like something out of a horror movie. The pain, the rigid face as that laugh bounced around the room, impossibly loud. All these horrible things, right in his childhood ho -

The bottom dropped out of her stomach.

Vivi sprang up and frantically began to throw things into her bag, almost glad she’d fallen asleep fully dressed. 

“We have to go now! That thing’s still in the house, the Peppers-”

Arthur went white as a sheet. “Oh _god_!” He ran out of the room, his own door slamming open shortly after and loud swearing spilling into the main apartment.

Everyone was trapped in the house with that thing. The Peppers, their daughters... none of them knew what was coming.

Grabbing the paper wrapped lump Vivi stuffed it into the bag and dashed out the door, throwing open the door to the apartment and running down the stairs as Mystery loped behind her, not even bothering to close the apartment door behind her. Exorcism, salt, holy water? What could she even do that wouldn’t hurt Lewis too?! She got all the way to the curb and van before she remembered she didn’t have any keys.

“Vivi, wait up!”

Arthur sprinted out of the complex to join her, fully dressed and his own bag thrown over his shoulder. 

“I’ll drive, get in!”

She looked back at him, noticing that he was shaking even worse than she was.

“Are you going to be okay?!”

“F-fuck that!” He was clearly scared out of his damn wits but he grinned anyway, baring his teeth. “No one deserves that thing! And... and I’m not letting anything happen to my friends this time!”

Vivi lunged forward, hugging him hard before breaking apart and running to the van. 

“A-alright! Let’s go!”

***

Lewis howled, clawing at the arm with burning fingers as he staggered and slammed into the hallway walls, his fire bathing the hall in hellish light. Any sort of coherent thought had dissolved into a white wall of pain, more and more cracks spider webbing through the heart as the hand continued to grip harder, forcing its green taint into all the fissures that opened. The ghostly fire luckily did not spread into actual flames, but the onslaught still left black scorch marks on the walls as a wash of heat flowed away from him. Flames flared higher, screams grew louder, footsteps pounded on the floor above, new and different yelling being added to the mix -

“VIVI!”

She gasped awake, having nodded off in the middle of the car ride. Arthur was barreling down the street a good ten miles above the speed limit, just barely slowing down enough to take corners without tipping over. It was around 15 minutes to get to the Pepper household from their apartment. Part of the reason they’d picked the apartment was the fact things weren’t too far away, but right now it felt like they might as well be on the other side of the country.

Mystery looked at her from the middle seat. It seemed that he was the one who had woken her up.

“You were hurting yourself.” He touched a paw to one of her hands.

A slow throbbing from her palms finally made it through her and Vivi opened her hands, knuckles almost creaking from hard they’d been clenched. Small crescents dotted her palms. Her nails hadn’t broken through the skin but with how things felt she could tell it hadn’t been by much.

“Viv?” Arthur didn’t look away from the road, but he was clearly concerned.

“I started dreaming for a bit.” She saw his knuckles tighten on the steering wheel. “Lewis is fighting, but he’s hurt. Keep going!”

She didn’t mention that it didn’t look good. Or that she was half afraid the house would burn down before they got there.

Arthur’s head darted side to side to check for any cross traffic before barreling through a red light. Lance would have had cut Arthur’s pay for a week if knew he was driving so recklessly, but right now none of them cared.

Bending over to dig into her back Vivi pulled out the paperback she’d gotten from Duet, quickly flipping through the pages. Her earlier idea of a tracking spell was useless right now - she had to find a new plan, and fast. What Lewis needed the most right now was help, but what could she even do when she was still several minutes away? The van swerved around another corner and Vivi yelped, having to fight against toppling over as several things spilled out of her bag.

“S-sorry!”

“It’s okay, don’t slow down!”

Vivi started to repack her things but stopped, noticing that a certain paper wrapped bundle had fallen out and was now partially _un_ -wrapped. She picked it up, staring at it as her brain began to churn. Slowly her hand reached over to pick up the paperback again, vision narrowing into a single point, turning pages until she found a passage she had seen earlier. 

“Of all rituals present, perhaps the strongest and simplest way to strengthen a connection between subject and master is the mixing of blood.”

A simple list of base instructions followed. 

This was incredibly dangerous. And probably stupid. 

She was doing it anyway.

Pulling several more things over of her bag Vivi scrawled a circular diagram on some paper, copying a simplified version onto the palm of her left hand. Finally, she finished unwrapping the stalagmite fragment from the cave map and dumped it onto the paper, point side up. Mystery sat up in alarm.

“Vivi, what are you-”

He didn’t get to finish. Just as he had started to speak Vivi raised her hand... and drove it straight down onto the stalagmite.

Violet light exploded from her eyes in jagged bolts, crashing through the interior of van and Arthur yelling as he fought to keep the van under control. She felt as if some predator had taken hold of her mind in its teeth and was shaking it violently, trying to tear out what it wanted. Pain and panic rebounded off of each other, blinding her, making it impossible to think, to remember-!

Actual teeth clamped down hard on her arm, the sensation giving her just enough clarity to separate her thoughts from Lewis’. Her vision however split in two, one viewing the road tearing away in front of them and the other of the very house they were fighting to get to.

“V-VIVI?!”

“D-don’t... don’t stop!” Her mind tripped over the conflicting inputs she was getting. Different directions, colors, feelings, memories, all of it tangled together. She screwed her eyes shut, trying to sort it out.

The sound of a beating heart pounded behind her temple, out of synch with her own and growing louder and more erratic each second it struggled, the view almost entirely obscured by purple flames. For a moment someone seemed to be coming closer but the silhouette jerked away, yelling at others to run. Pain, there was still so much pain...

Struggling through the psychic onslaught Vivi zeroed in on the heartbeat, pulling it closer and holding on tight, soothing and shielding it from the pain. Her attention, however, didn’t go unnoticed. The attacker sunk its influence even deeper into the heart, strangling it, and pulsing green veins shot through the flames, came closer, were almost upon her - 

Darkness edged in red light flashed out and severed the flames before the green could reach her, Vivi crying out as some of the heart was taken away, the sound of shattering glass filling her mind. No, it wasn’t enough, she had to-!

“Don’t you _ever_ do that again.”

Vivi snapped back into the present, hand screaming in pain and dimpled teeth marks on her forearm. Mystery was standing on all fours and Vivi’s hair raised straight on end when she saw the red light glowing in his eyes.  Arthur, meanwhile, had his back pushed hard against the van door, arms out to either side. They were pulled off on the side of the road.

“Why did you stop me?!” Mystery’s eyes were setting of a whole fleet of alarm bells but her emotions were too wired from what she’d just experienced. “I almost had him!”

Silence. And then -

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Darkness gathered around Mystery, six long shapes forming behind him and his red eyes the only source of light.

“I didn’t realize you wanted me to bite off your arm too.”

The sheer psychic pressure slammed into her like a truck, Vivi backing into her own door in horror and Arthur now a practical pancake against his. 

Looking between the two of them Mystery sighed.

“I’m not going to hurt either of you.” The color returned to his coat, shadows fading and eyes no longer glowing - thought they did still contain a certain glint. “I am merely... upset at how this current situation has been handled.” He shot another pointed look at Vivi. “And we will be _talking_ about this later. Now if you’ll excuse me, l shall get the first aid kit.”

Once Mystery had jumped over the seat and into the back of the van Arthur peeled himself off the door, coming across to help her with her hand. The shakes from earlier had returned, his fingers trembling as he turned the palm to face upwards and tried to not look too hard at the blood. She understood now why Mystery worked so hard to help Arthur feel comfortable around him... and how this had merely been a glimpse of what had showed up in the cave. A second later the first aid kit was dropped onto the seat next to them, Arthur getting out a shaky “Thank you” before opening up the kit and starting on bandaging her hand. The disinfectant hurt like hell, each second that ticked by feeling like an eternity, but rushing through this wouldn’t help anyone. Not even Lewis.

When they got started again they took it slow, noticing the flashing lights as the van got closer to the address. Turning the final corner into the cul-de-sac confirmed the situation, two police cars and a firetruck by the curb near the house. Arthur parked the van at the end of the street.

Relief flooded through Vivi when she saw there hadn’t been a fire, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t damage. All of the windows on the bottom floor had been blown out, glass littering the lawn and front driveway as law enforcement and firefighters picked over the scene, several neighbors having come out of their homes to see what was going on. And there, huddled together on the curb in front of everything...

She got out of the van, ready to go to them, but stopped after a few feet. Arthur came out a few seconds later.

“... what now?”

That was a really good question.

Part of Vivi wanted to go, to leave without having to explain the painful and confusing situation, but before she could decide one of the daughters spotted them, looking back and forth and pointing them out to everyone. Now Mr. and Mrs. Pepper were standing up in bewilderment, red and blue lights continuing to flash in the cul-de-sac. 

It was now or never.

Holding her bandaged hand close to her chest Vivi began to walk over, heart doing a nervous dance against her fingers and Arthur lagging a couple steps behind. She was glad they were okay. Relieved that she wouldn’t have to visit a hospital, or attend another funeral. But overall... this still felt pretty awful. Mrs. Pepper reached them first, hair tangled and clothes smudged with soot, but otherwise unmarked.

“Vivi? Arthur? Why... what are you doing here?”

Her hand ached painfully as the rest of the family filled in behind Mrs. Pepper, everyone else just as rumpled and confused.

She really didn’t want to do this.

“I-”

 _The two of them were in the kitchen, his mom guiding his hands as he tried out the rolling pin for the first time. It was rough, and he hated how much he was mangling the dough, but she smiled anyway, showing him how to_ -

...What the hell?

Vivi furiously blinked away the foreign imagery, a purple tinge fading from her vision as Arthur and Mrs. Pepper looked at her in concern. 

***

There was something weird going on here.

Arthur didn’t know what the purple glow fading from Vivi’s eyes meant, and, from Vivi’s expression, she had no idea either. Which was _super_ reassuring.

This night was awful.

By this point Mrs. Pepper’s eyebrows had become deeply furrowed, glancing back and forth between the two of them.

“Is there something wrong?”

He wanted to say ‘everything’ but instead settled for another question.

“Can we uh... do this privately?”

While the Peppers knew that Lewis had died by supernatural means Arthur had never been able to bring himself to tell them the whole truth - they just thought what had killed Lewis was the same thing that made him lose his arm. Which was... true in a way, but still a major glossing over of events. He might confess to it all someday, but right now telling them that their son was a ghost was going to be bad enough.

“...Private how?”

“I don’t know if your daughters should hear this, Mrs. Pepper,” Vivi said quietly.

The couple looked at each other, Mr. Pepper eventually nodding and leading his daughters a few yards away to sit beneath a tree, coming back to stand by his wife a moment later. Mrs. Pepper folded her arms.

“Now. What exactly can’t you tell my entire family?”

“We think Lewis’ ghost has been haunting your house.”

It went over as well could be expected. Arms dropped limply to Mrs. Pepper’s side and her skin turned ashen, while Mr. Pepper just stared, standing completely still. Vivi continued the best she could.

“I’ve been seeing him in my dreams but tonight he was attacked. We wanted to see if you were okay.” Vivi was hugging herself tightly, staring at the ground and not making any eye contact.

“Attacked? By what?”

“The same thing that killed him,” Arthur said, both heads turning to stare at him. The way they were looking at him right now... he wanted to run and hide. Mrs. Pepper spoke up again.

“Is he okay?”

“... we don’t know.”

All of them went silent for several seconds, but before things could continue an officer walked up to the group.

“Mr. and Mrs. Pepper?” 

There was a shaky nod from Mr. Pepper. The officer took out a notepad and pen. “Can you come with me? We would like to get a statement on what happened tonight.” 

Arthur spoke up when he saw the Peppers looking between the officer and their daughters. 

“We can look after them for a bit.”

“Are you sure?” Mrs. Pepper’s eyes had settled on the bandage on Vivi’s hand.

“It’s not a problem,” Vivi said, hiding the hand under her other arm. It was trembling. 

He was definitely taking her to the hospital after this.

Arthur walked sat down next to the three young girls, watching as the Peppers went with the officer and Vivi sank down with her back against the tree, turning away. He almost missed it but there, ever so faintly, purple light had sparked in her eyes again. This time at least she hadn’t seemed to completely pause in what she was doing. The oldest daughter came up next to him, folding her legs under her and placing her hands on the ground.

“You guys okay?”

He thought about lying, fudging the details and not letting on how fucked up everything was, but decided against it. He’d given up on tonight.

“... No. We’re not.”

His metal hand dug into the grass, sinking into the dirt and joints clenching hard enough to creak.

“We’re really, really not.”


End file.
